Greece announced Thursday that it will make the use of masks indoors and outdoors mandatory to contain the spread of the coronavirus during the Christmas and New Years holidays.
“There is more mobility during the festive season and large congregations are made outdoors,” Health Minister Thanos Plevris told reporters.
The measure will take effect on Friday and will remain in effect until at least January 2, Plevris said.
All public holidays for Christmas and New Years have been canceled, and visitors from abroad are required to test the second and fourth days after arrivalsaid the minister.
Additional restrictions on recreational, sports and remote work activities will be announced in the coming days for the period after January 3, he added.
The use of chinstrap in the open air also became mandatory from this Thursday in the Italian region of straight, which contains the capital Rome, while the national government prepares a new series of measures to stop the advance of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
A day after Italy recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases in more than a year, the central Italian region, which also includes other tourist towns such as Ostia and Viterbo, will require the use of the chinstrap outdoors until January 23 next.
While, Prime Minister Mario Draghi will lead a Cabinet meeting to define new measures at the national level to stop the spread of the virus, among which could be the extension of the vaccine obligation to new categories of workers, according to the Italian press.
On Wednesday, in view of possible restrictions, 1,618,576 people downloaded the so-called “green pass”, which enables vaccinated and recovered access to activities such as eating in restaurants and traveling on medium-distance trains and planes.
“The arrival of the Omicron variant opened a new phase in the pandemic. We must defend the normality achieved, and that means no closures, presence in schools and satisfactory sociability,” Draghi said at a press conference.
Two days before Christmas, the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading at high speed in Europe, with records in United Kingdom Y Spain, which recovered the mandatory outdoor mask, although studies point to a lower probability of hospitalization with this variant.
After breaking its record for new infections for the second day in a row (60,041, almost half by Ómicron), the Spanish government announced that on Thursday it will again impose the mandatory use of a mask outdoors.
Infections in the United Kingdom also skyrocketed, with a record 106,000 new cases, more than half of them by Ómicron. The country, one of the hardest hit, is trying to speed up vaccination with almost half a million daily booster doses.
In addition, the restrictions are multiplied: Belgium announced on Wednesday the closure of cinemas and theater venues and the early closure of bars and restaurants, while since Thursday Sweden It will promote teleworking and will require a health pass at events of more than 500 people.
The world has registered 5,368,777 million deaths from coronavirus since the end of 2019, according to a balance established by AFP from official sources this Wednesday.
The Europe region is the one that currently registers the most cases, with 2,870,947 in the last seven days (60% of the world total), followed by the United States / Canada (1,108,580 cases, 23%).
Source From: Ambito
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